Icecream
by planet p
Summary: AU; Deborah Broots joins the Center. Set in 2006. Debbie/Cox
1. Chapter 1

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**2006**

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Debbie sighed and combed her fingers through her close cropped auburn hair. Her tiny fingers were painted with deep purple nail polish and chipped from a weekend spent gardening.

She wondered if she should darken her hair. It just looked too… housewifey.

She sighed again and turned on her heel, spinning away from the mirror and exiting the bathroom. With confident strides, she turned left and headed for her lab.

xxx

Her father had disputed her line of work the first time she had announced her intentions to him. She still remembered the way his eyes had gone wide and the plastic shopping bag had slipped from his hands, smacking loudly on the tiled kitchen floor. Potatoes, carrots and apples rolling every-which-way.

Eventually he had given up trying to dissuade her.

She would be twenty later in the year. She had graduated sixth form at the age of seventeen and had taken up studies the following year.

She wasn't one of those girls who absolutely loved her job to death. No, that would be one of those Macca attendants who spent their days chatting to cute guys.

She hadn't really had much choice, however. She didn't blame her father, but it really came back to him, because of him really, him and that Parker woman – or Park, as Debbie knew her.

xxx

So here she was. Nineteen and still single. A whole lab to her own and the title 'Lab-tech Officer'.

She worked under the direction of Dr. Cox, whom she secretly wished would just drop dead. She had nicknamed him Dr. Frankenstein, which he – somehow – mistook as an endearing term.

xxx

She laughed softly to herself.

_Once upon a time… There was a boy called Frankie. And a girl called Barbie. Frankie liked Barbie. Barbie wondered when he would take a hint. She decided that they needed some help in their relationship. So Barbie took Frankie to see the good doctor Willy. Frankie was bored. Barbie decided to take Frankie for a tour of the good doctor's laboratory. The key words being 'lab' and 'rat'. Frankie soon got tired and complained that he needed to sit down. Barbie showed him to a seat. Then she switched the power on and fried his brains. Willy found her laughing like a loon. Then he asked if she was looking for a job. Barbie winked a little twinkle in her eye, and wondered whose turn it would be next._

xxx

"Ah, my good lab-techie!"

Debbie rolled her eyes. "Good you got right, _Frankie_!" She fluttered her eyelashes sweetly.

Cox smiled back at her, apparently under the impression she had just accepted his compliment with gratitude.

He held out a manilla folder for her to take, which she did, perusing it briefly before she chucked it back down on the desk, leaning heavily on the wooden table, one hand on her hip. She tossed her head back.

"So what you're saying is, basically, we've been over-ruled?"

Cox shifted uncomfortably, but did not look away. "Basically? Yes. The Chairman, Mr. Parker, has reassigned us for the time being."

Debbie nodded briefly. "Recruitment?" She pouted.

Cox widened his eyes in sickening enthusiasm. "Yes."

Debbie rolled her eyes to the ceiling slowly, and deliberated. "And what – exactly – does that mean?"

Cox shot her a slightly amused smile, chuckling to himself. "Exactly, that means we've got ourselves some a-hunting to do."

Debbie straightened, smiling sickly sweet. "Oh, how sweet."

Cox grinned. "How very sweet, indeed."

Debbie wondered if he had been a parrot in his last life. She left the lab humming the 'Mission Impossible' theme tune.

"Jeni?"

She paused in the door. "Deborah will do just fine, thanks," she replied sharply.

"No…"

Debbie turned now, eyebrows raised at his sudden hesitation, cold tending on cool.

"Um…"

She sniggered, not even bothering to hide it. _Let him think what he wants! _"Yes, Dr. Cox?" she questioned innocently.

"Jeni-"

"Debbie." She kept her expression determinately stern, adding a twinge of impatience for good measure, enjoying the sight of the good doctor Frankenstein squirming like an eel in a simmering pot.

He cleared his throat, which Debbie took as indication that she should not interrupt again. "Miss Broots, Jeni is to be your alias."

Debbie tossed her head back. Cox's expression remained unchanged. She snorted. "I don't think so!" she stated flatly, amused.

Cox straightened up, placing his hands behind his back in case he gave away his nervousness by fidgeting. "I do think so, Miss Broots. You are to assume the alias, Jeni Rooney, and I… am to be Wyatt Rooney."

Debbie felt her stomach flip. How could they do this to her? How could they bloody dare? She forced herself to remain calm. "How sweet," she replied calmly, a little flutter of amusement evident in her voice, "dear big brovver of mine."

Cox's grin was wiped clean when her words finally sunk in. "Oh no, I think you misunderstand me."

Debbie laughed in the back of her throat and tossed her chin upwards. "Oh yeah?"

"Oh yeah!" he replied, imitating her choice of words.

Debbie shivered involuntarily, not at all liking that little gleam in her counter-part's cool blue eyes. Her smile remained stubbornly in place.

"You see… Miss Broots…" he placed careful emphasis on her name, "I believe you are tragically mistaken. I am not to be your brother…" an evil smile came onto his lips, "but your husband."

Debbie felt her blood run cold. Her smile faltered. She hitched it back, and left without another word or a second glance. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction!


	2. Chapter 2

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Mr. and Mrs. Rooney**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

The briefing was that afternoon.

Afterwards, Debbie swept quietly off and headed for the bathrooms.

She leant down in front of the toilet bowl and puked her guts up. Then she wiped her mouth on some paper towelling, gave her hands a quick scrub with the pretty-smelling hand-wash and left to pick her father up from his office, the same as every other day since the start of the year.

xxx

Tucker took his time packing up his things.

Debbie didn't feel like waiting so she took the elevator to ground level and sat waiting in the car, the radio blaring nonsensical lyrics over heavy bass.

Tucker made to start up a conversation once. Debbie simply leant across and turned the volume up.

She stayed up in her room that night, eating takeaway and reading her romance novels.

Tucker watched television and wondered if his baby girl hated him.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Mrs. Rooney stood leant against the wall by the elevators, chewing an arm of her sunglasses, half-bored, half-playful.

She wore a checked white and green summer dress complete with spaghetti straps and low-cut rounded neck, her white bra straps and the pretty little mole on her collar bone clearly visible against her pale skin.

She tapped her lipstick pink heels absent-mindedly on the marble floor, annoyed with her long light brown wig already.

xxx

Cox was late. As usual. Debbie wondered why he wasn't dead already.

He paused lightly and made for front desk. The office girl looked up from her paperwork and smiled. "Dr. Cox, what can I do for you this morning?"

Jeni tissed. Sweeping her long hair behind her shoulder, she strutted up to her husband. The office girl frowned when she noticed her uncoordinated attire. Jeni shot the girl a cheeky little wink. The office girl didn't enquire any further.

Jeni ignored the girl's confused reaction and wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, resting her chin on his shoulder and gazing down at the clerk sweetly.

Cox started and spun around to face her. Jeni grinned and placed a finger across his lips, advancing on him so that he backed into the glass booth with something akin to fear on his face. "Shhh…"

His round blue eyes grew wider.

Jeni shook her head lightly and pressed herself up against him, slipping a knee in between his legs suggestively. "Sooo… I missed you last night."

By the look on his face, Debbie figured he still hadn't put two and two together. She couldn't be bothered caring.

Jeni tossed her hair back behind her right shoulder and proceeded in licking the side of his face. She caught the office girl watching as though petrified and winked. The girl scampered off to call security.

xxx

Cox finally managed to grab hold of Jeni's wrists and pushed her from him forcefully. Jeni stumbled on her heels and laughed, straightening up and pushing him back playfully.

"You're late," she finally replied, glancing around at the Sweepers who had come to fetch her.

She pulled out her ID and shoved in it their faces. "No, it's alright boys. We've got the situation under control. Go back to your lattes and put your feet up."

Cox blushed scarlet, but swallowed his retorts, running to catch her up as she strode off in the direction of the briefing room.

"De-"

"Jeni," she corrected blankly, neither slowing nor turning.

"J-jeni."

She rolled her eyes, finally slowing to turn the corner. He blushed again as he very nearly ran straight into her. "Save it!"

xxx

They spent the rest of the journey in silence. Only once they reached the briefing room door did Cox open his mouth to speak once more.

Debbie turned to him sharply and chucked him against the wall opposite, her face very close to his. For a time she only glared at him. Then she took a deep breath and released his arms in disgust. "Get with the program or go home!"

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Mr. Parker looked Debbie up and down, frowning.

Debbie shot him a sickly sweet smile, scrunching her nose up, and did a little 360 degree turn for him.

Mr. Parker pursed his lips. "Well, it's not exactly what I had envisioned…"

Debbie scooped up her 'hair' and flicked it behind her shoulder.

Mr. Parker sighed and took his seat, shooting Cox a funny look when he hesitated in taking a seat beside his co-worker. "Sit," he instructed.

Cox sat.

Debbie leant her head onto her shoulder and smiled affectionately.

Cox ignored her intimidation tactics.

xxx

"Bloody Hell!" Cox exploded. "What the Hell were you thinking?"

Debbie smiled sweetly without reply, watching idly as the Chairman disappeared around a corner to her left, his entourage of Sweepers close on his heels.

"My wife is not a bloody BUMPKIN!"

Debbie turned back to Cox. She gasped, widening her eyes, and placed a hand to her mouth in apparent confusion. "Tsss!"

Cox growled. "Don't test me!"

Debbie rolled her eyes, amusement masking her fear. "Why not? No one else'd be _dumb_ enough to marry _you_."

Cox stood there in utter shock; looking, for-all-the-world, as though he had just been slapped.

Debbie didn't wait up.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

The young woman took a detour and headed for Dr. Sydney Green's office, ripping her wig off in disgust and glaring down at it as if she wished nothing more than for it to catch fire.

_A fine start to your marriage, don't you think?_ Debbie growled, hating her superior all the more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Wyatt**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Jeni slammed the car door forcefully, determinately avoiding her husband's gaze.

Cox shook his head and started the car, putting the car into reverse to pull out of the parking space.

"D-"

"Jeni!" the young woman corrected, sniffing, and continued glaring out the window.

An uncomfortable silence fell on the pair, neither looking around to see if the other was looking, but each waiting for the point one would slip up and an all-out shouting match would start.

Jeni huffed, uncrossing her arms. She spent a moment rummaging in her handbag until she found what she was looking for and slipped her Cher CD into the player. Music burst from the speakers abruptly.

Wyatt leant across and switched the music off.

Jeni scowled and turned it back on, turning the volume dial a few notches. She didn't want to think right now.

Wyatt reached to turn the CD off again.

"Cut it out." Wyatt ignored her. Jeni scowled silently and grabbed his hand, twisting his fingers back painfully.

"Bloody Hell, woman!" The car took a sudden swerve. Wyatt jerked his hand away from her and shot her an angry glare.

"Fuck you, too," Jeni hissed under her breath, glaring out the window once more.

xxx

They stopped for lunch at a roadside diner in the middle of nowhere. Debbie had a smoothie and hot chips with chicken salt.

Cox got her a sandwich to take with her in case she got hungry later.

She didn't tell him she puked all her food up before they left, when she excused herself to fix her lippy and he asked the attendant for directions.

xxx

Debbie stared blankly into the mirror. No matter how hard she looked, all she saw was a scared little girl. There was no Debbie. She looked like Debbie, outwardly; she was Debbie. Yet she wasn't, she couldn't, be Debbie.

How could she steal a child from its mother?

How could she steal a child from a loving parent when she knew that what was awaiting that child was anything but loving?

What kind of a person was she really?

She didn't know anymore! And it killed her inside. She felt so hollow, so very empty, as though her whole life had been a lie, as though this Debbie person was just a memory and not her at all.

Because she wasn't a good person! Good people didn't sneak around in the dead of night. Good people didn't steal children from their beds. Debbie was a good person. She was not.

"What are you?" She ripped savagely at her hair, her scream echoing in the enclosed space. Her stomach turned and she was sick all in the chipped white basin.

xxx

"Left! Left!" Debbie whined in her Jeni voice, her eyes wide like Jeni's, her forehead creased like Jeni's, Jeni's face pressed up against the foggy glass, Jeni's pretty little hands right there beside her face, so very cold as water streamed down the windscreen outside. Jeni turned to her husband. "You idiot!" She stuck her arm out to her left and smacked her hand on the glass. "L-e-f-t! The man said 'LEFT'!"

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "I know what _the man_ said! I was there too! I asked _the man_! If you think it's so easy driving this God damned jalopy, why don't you give it a try sometime? And quit bugging me woman!"

Jeni screamed. "You fucking useless shit!" She elbowed him into the side of the door and grabbed the wheel.

Wyatt screamed in fear as the car swerved sharply right and slid horribly on the wet road. "What are you doing?" he hollered. "You wanna get us all killed?"

xxx

Wyatt sighed in relief. The car was stopped and he had taken the keys. He rested his head in his hand, shaking his head. "Just… Bloody Hell, woman!"

The side of the car looked as though it had been taken out where they scraped a tree and a mirror was missing.

Wyatt shook his head once more, rain pouring down all around him. Jeni lay in the mud gazing up at the clouded heavens as rain slicked her hair to her face.

That car was sure not going anywhere, not like that, stuck in an irrigation ditch.

Wyatt fell down beside his wife heavily. "You okay?"

Jeni didn't open her eyes.

He reached out a hand to touch her face. "You're not hurt?"

Jeni's eyes flicked open and she scrambled away from the older man.

Wyatt stared back at her fearfully for a second, and then he tilted his face to the sky and laughed.

xxx

The fifty-something man stared at the couple standing in the doorway, dripping on his welcome mat, and looking like a pair of drowned rats.

"C' I do for ye folks?" he asked, moving around the desk to shut the door. It was still pouring buckets out there and he didn't want his floor getting flooded.

The little bell above the door finally stopped tinkling.

Jeni looked across at her husband expectantly. Wyatt turned to the old man, digging in his inside coat pocket for a moment. "D'you take credit per chance?" he asked hopefully, frowning.

The old man shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid not, sir."

Wyatt turned to the door and frowned. "But it's raining out there."

The old man nodded. "It is, yes, but I have a family to feed too. Besides, I'm afraid we're all out of rooms."

Wyatt stopped fidgeting with his watch and sighed.

"You might try the place down the road," the old man suggested.

Jeni started forward, shivering something awful, but Wyatt dragged her back, arms around her waist. "Did you not hear my husband?" she stormed, "It's raining out there!"

The old man shook his head. "I'm afraid you'll have to go now, ma'am."

Wyatt dragged his wife screaming and kicking from the hotel back out into the rain, before placing her feet back down on the ground and smoothing the hair out of her pale face.

Jeni screamed and launched herself at him, smacking him hard across the face. Wyatt stumbled back, shocked for a moment. Jeni took that time to run for it, disappearing around the corner bare-foot.

xxx

Jeni sat by the window in their single room – the last room left, on account of some big do – her eyes wide and glazed.

Wyatt turned away from the heater and sighed. "Damn thing's busted."

Jeni rolled her eyes. "Go figure!"

xxx

"You… um… you want the… Why don't you take the bed? I'll… the chair'll be just fine. I've got some things to finalise, besides…" he trailed off.

Jeni huffed, her arms crossed tight across her chest, and sat stiffly on the bed, a very old blanket wrapped around her shoulders. "What sort of things?" she asked a while later, only half-pretending to be interested.

Wyatt looked up from his papers momentarily. "Oh, you know, the usual. Stuff."

Jeni looked away when their eyes met, sniffing to herself. "Stuff!" she breathed sarcastically to herself.

xxx

Jeni tossed in her bed, restless in her slumber. Wyatt frowned a moment. The blanket had slipped from the bed and lay crumpled on the dusty floor in a heap.

Wyatt paused, and stood, replacing his papers on the table beside the window. She seemed so peaceful asleep – and a mighty lot less fierce – that he hardly dared disturb her, lest she wake. Finally pulling some wits about him, he strode across the room and stooped to retrieve the blanket, before giving it a good shake and replacing it over the sleeping girl, making sure to tuck her in nice and good.

He stood for a while and watched her chest rise and fall as she slept. She seemed to be breathing alright, anyhow.

Crossing himself, he leant down and brushed her forehead lightly. The girl did not stir. He sighed. She wasn't running a temperature, luckily. He wondered if she was hungry. In the morning they would get out of this petty backward hole of an excuse for a town, and everything would be alright again.

xxx

Wyatt was finally beginning to fall asleep, when the sounds of Jeni's screams roused him.

The girl was looking positively mad, screaming and jumping up and down on the bed, waving her arms about as though she had lost the plot.

Shaking his head to clear it a bit better, he got to his feet and started towards the bed. "You do know that it's…" he glanced down at his watch, "four twenty-seven am, don't you?"

Jeni's overlarge eyes fell on the older man and she squealed. "Eeeew!"

Wyatt frowned and tilted his head to one side.

"It was on me. Crawling or gnawing, or whatever rats do! Eeeew! No! Get it away from me!"

Wyatt watched as a mouse scuttled across the floor, disappearing into a crack in the wall in a flash. "Mice," he corrected.

Jeni screamed again, and jumped off the bed, right at him. "Vermin!" she retorted.

Wyatt caught the flying girl and shook his head. "They are the lower species," he teased, "and as such, we have an obligation to their welfare, to protect them."

Jeni screamed torridly, and pushed him away violently. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

Wyatt couldn't help it, he had to smirk then. "Why, little miss bumpkin's not afwaid of the big bad mouse, is she now?"

Jeni ripped on her hair, ready to lunge for his jugular.

There was an abrupt squeal from the mattress and Jeni jumped back into his arms. "I think they're living in there!" she whispered, shaking from head to toe.

Wyatt simply smiled and refrained from getting himself biffed by touching what he shouldn't. "Surely not?"

Jeni's eyes widened furiously. Wyatt ducked but she clipped him across the back of the head anyway.

"What do you say?" he proposed, "how about I give you my seat for the bed?"

Jeni continued to glare horribly, her breath short and heaving. Her head fell onto her chest and she nodded mutely.

"Shake on it?"

Jeni growled.

Wyatt rather thought he was pushing his luck there a bit. And that was never a good thing to do, especially seeing as the one he was pushing it with was a half-crazed little girl whose role model was a less-than-and-anything-but angel. There could be dangerous, or rather, painful, repercussions.


	4. Chapter 4

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Dirt**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Jeni stood stiffly with her arms tight across her chest. She was never hitchhiking in a TRUCK again! Never ever!

She was still on wheels from the ordeal.

Wyatt stopped and turned to her, tilting his head towards his shoulder. "Come on, Jeni, it's not so bad," he whined.

Jeni growled and took chase. "I'll give you 'not so bad'! You're not the one who's been walking half over town with no shoes to speak of! Now you better run, cos if I catch you…"

Wyatt laughed and ran for it. The car yard wasn't far now.

Then he would see about getting her some shoes, and some clean clothes. She looked like a rag doll some little kid had tried to drown in a puddle or the sort, and he couldn't help a smile each time his eyes strayed to her bed hair. It was a wig – but hey – it sure was a scruffy kinda wig.

xxx

Jeni rolled her eyes, shaking her head. "Boys and their toys! Did you really have to get _that_ car?"

Wyatt shrugged and stood back to admire his 1993 model Mercedes. "Yeah, sure, it just spoke to me."

Jeni snorted. "You're not hearing voices in your head are you dumpling?" She shot him a puzzled glance she had leant from Sydney. "Cos you know what they say – the first sign of madness."

Wyatt shrugged again, turning back to his car. "But ain't she pretty?"

Jeni rolled her eyes, something she had been doing far too much lately. "What can I say – pretty!"

Wyatt smirked, and patted the bonnet. "Told you so."

Jeni refrained from throttling him then and there.

xxx

"Zim-zalla-boom!"

Jeni looked up from her newly-acquired romance novel and shot him a withering look.

Wyatt sighed and sat down opposite her, passing the coffee from the plastic tray across to her. "I got you a marshmallow," he added, nodding to the saucer.

Jeni snorted and rolled her eyes. "Oh my! I feel so privileged."

Wyatt looked away from her and stirred his coffee absently.

xxx

"This is where the mother works?" Jeni queried, fidgeting with the strap of her denim dungarees, her sunglasses rested on top of her head.

Wyatt nodded. "It is!"

Jeni slouched, hands on her hips. "It's a nursery," she replied, unimpressed.

"It is."

"They're plants."

Wyatt snorted, earning himself a reproving glare from the younger woman. "So they are!" he chimed in amazement, just to tease her. "And – oh my God – don't tell me… That's not dirt, is it? Eeeew! It couldn't be! No, not dirt! I don't like dirt! No. No. I don't like it at all."

Jeni made to biff him. He ducked her swing and started for the nursery gate. "Works here nine to five weekdays; twelve to three weekends."

Jeni rolled her eyes. "So-"

"Seven," Wyatt replied without waiting for her to finish her sentence. "Grade two, local primary, not far from here actually…" he trailed off.

Jeni shut the gate behind her, gazing around at all the plants and wondering if she should get something for her daddy.

xxx

They spent the rest of the morning getting acquainted with the mother, Nadine.

Jeni spotted a picture taped to the old fridge – that, by the looks of it, had seen its fair share of wars – in the tiny kitchenette. The photo was of a little boy with blonde curls and a cute pudgy nose.

"That your little ankle-biter?" she asked innocently, smiling.

Nadine laughed and brushed the hair off her face. "Yeah. That's my little Kimmy."

Jeni nodded. "Cute kid."

Nadine smiled. "Takes after his daddy."

Jeni shot her husband a cute smile before turning back to Nadine. "Oh, really?"

Nadine tossed his head to one side. "You better believe it. Mummy just hopes he don't grow up to be such a tosser as 'is old man was."

"He left you?" Jeni asked carefully.

Nadine snorted, hand in her back. "He did. But I'm over it now, I daresay. After all this time."

Jeni nodded. "Tosser!"

"You said it girl!"

The two women burst into raucous laughter.

xxx

"… and a great afternoon to you too, sir."

The customer nodded and strolled off with his new potted cactus.

Wyatt rolled his eyes and chucked some potting mix at his wife, tossing his chin in the direction of their departing customer.

Jeni huffed. "Pfff! He was getting it for his girlfriend."

Wyatt snorted. "Sure."

Jeni growled and strutted up to her husband meaningfully. "He was!"

Wyatt chucked some more dirt at her. "Sure."

Jeni growled and brushed the potting mix from her cheek. "Try that again and I'll-"

"You'll what?" Wyatt teased.

Jeni shook her head, narrowing her eyes in dislike. "Retard," she muttered dismissively, turning back to the service desk.

Wyatt snuck up behind her and shoved potting mix down the back of her stripey rainbow tee-shirt.

Jeni squealed and sprung away from him. Wyatt doubled over in laughter.

The young woman growled angrily and seized a handful of potting mix. "You're going down, buster!"

Wyatt grinned. "You gotta catch me first, girlie."

xxx

Nadine shook her head in exasperation as Jeni and Wyatt covered each other in her potting mix. A small smile came across her face as she listened to the laughter on their flushed faces.

Love really was a funny thing.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Kim**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Kim was a cute little kid; into all the things normal kids obsessed over: Yu-Gi-Oh, Maccas, dinosaurs.

Wyatt said he was in good enough health, from what he could tell.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"What now?" Jeni questioned, sitting cross-legged on the double bed, polishing her toenails boysenberry pink.

"Now that we have contact, it's time for the next phase of the operation," Wyatt told her from the bathroom.

Jeni raised her eyebrows. "Meaning?"

"Confirmation," he replied simply.

Jeni nodded slowly. "Meaning?"

Wyatt switched the bathroom light out and gazed at the young woman in apparent grumpiness. He hadn't missed the teasing note in her voice, however, so he decided to indulge her. "Confirmation that the boy is a Pretender."

Jeni looked back to her toenails, her mind working over time. "Right. Because he could just be a smart little cookie? We have to do blood works?"

"We do."

"And the intelligence tests?"

"Still a go."

Jeni sighed. "Guess this is gonna take some time?"

Wyatt nodded. "Guess it will."

Yes, it always came back to time. For such an in-concrete thing, Time sure did wield its power over the material world.

"I… um… what's with the loo hogging? Can't you use your own?"

Wyatt shot his wife an 'immature' look. "This is _my_ – or should I say, _our_? – own."

Jeni nodded slowly, then the nail polish brush slipped from her hand, smearing the white sheet with glittery pink paint. "What?" she hollered.

Wyatt slouched, rolling his eyes, and held up his hand to indicate the wedding ring. "Married, Cocopops!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Kim played with his plastic dinosaurs, his cheek rested on the customer service desk.

Jeni smiled and looked down at the sleepy boy.

"School wearing you out, huh?"

Kim looked up into the young woman's eyes and shook his head slightly. "We had soccer," he explained.

Jeni nodded. "Sounds fun," she enthused.

Kim rolled his eyes, puffing up his cheeks. "I always get beat," he replied blankly, looking back to his toy dinosaurs. "It's cos I've got stupid little legs."

Jeni frowned sadly, reaching for the little boy's head and ruffling his hair. "Oh, baby, don't say that. Just cos you can't run as fast as those other boys don't mean nothing, honey. Don't mean you ain't got a good heart, does it now?"

Kim huffed, one of his triceratops attacking a brachiosaur. "I don't care anyway," he said dismissively.

Jeni crossed her arms stubbornly. "Well I think you do. And, more than that, I care. It's not right for kids the tease other kids and call them mean names. Maybe I should go there and give these boys a good talking to?"

Kim thumped his head on the table.

Jeni frowned, worried. "Kimmy?"

"I said 'I don't care'!" he growled, before gathering up his toys and stalking off.

Jeni watched as the little boy disappeared, a hand holding her hair up out of her eyes, gaping.

xxx

"What was that about?" Wyatt questioned, frowning after the shuddering screen door, through which Kim had stormed not moments ago.

Jeni shrugged nonchalantly and turned back to the service desk, watching the front gate for any sign of potential customers. "I dunno," she replied after a moment of silence.

Wyatt sighed. "You're not still on about that, are you?"

Jeni stiffened and glared down at the table. "Piss off!"

Wyatt did as he was instructed.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Debbie sobbed, knees drawn up to her chest, as hot water cascaded all about her, flooding the shower floor.

It was an hour and seventeen minutes before she turned the water off and stood drying her auburn hair in front of the mirror, hair-drier on full heat.

She carefully made her way across the room to the bed she shared with her co-worker. She was glad when she noticed that he appeared to be sleeping, silently thanking her lucky stars.

Perhaps she would ring Sydney on his mobile tomorrow and ask if her father was available? She brushed a trembling hand across her warm cheek, gently pulling the covers up to her chest and turning coldly from the older man, a sick feeling rising in her stomach.

The room was not exactly dark. Shadows danced merrily on the wall. Debbie stared blankly until she fell into oblivious darkness.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Ah, come on, Nadie!" Jeni whined. "It'll be great! Just you and me! No annoying boys." She slouched, bent over slightly, her hands clasped as though in prayer. "Please! Please! Please!"

Nadine frowned, pausing pruning for a moment. "And what about Kimmy?"

Jeni's eyes darted about. "What… Wh- Wyatt!" she hollered after a moment. "Wyatt can mind him for a couple of hours."

Nadine rolled her eyes. "I don't know," she replied uncertainly.

"It'll be great! You'll see!" Jeni ranted wildly with overlarge eyes. "Music, lights, drinks, dancing… _boys_."

Nadine laughed. "And you think Wyatt's gonna agree to this why?"

It was Jeni's turn to laugh. "Trust me – he will! I'll just threaten to whoop his sorry arse if he don't!"

Nadine wasn't convinced. "Agree to mind that little horror whilst his wife goes on a night out on the town? Ah-hah! And pigs can fly!" She snorted, shaking her head.

Jeni remonstrated. "But they can!" she whined. "In a catapult."

Nadine burst into all out hysterics, doubled over, laughing so much that tears came to her eyes.

Jeni sniffed, folding her arms across her chest huffily. "I'll make him agree!" she retorted. "Even if I have to threaten whipping."

Nadine was lost for the count at that last statement, hardly able to breath for her laughter.

xxx

Wyatt looked down at Kim and grinned.

Kim didn't know how to respond, so he didn't.

"Gee, who'd've thought?" Wyatt teased. "Jeni the Unco meet Jeni the …"

Jeni rolled her eyes at her husband as he gave her the once over.

"Nice," he replied after a moment.

xxx

Nadine bustled out of the bathroom and emerged into the hall, dressed in a pretty gold skirt and tight black tee-shirt printed with pink roses and barbed wire, complete with knee-high black boots.

"Oh, and don't forget, bedtime's at seven-thirty," she rushed, fidgeting with her hair.

Kim smiled. "You look pretty, mum."

Nadine stopped fidgeting with her handbag. "Thank you, Kimmy."

Kim looked at his shoes.

"How about you give mummy a hug?"

Kim nodded and walked up to his mum, allowing her to pull him into a squishy hug without complaint.

Jeni smiled at the scene and turned to her husband. She looked away without comment.

A loud honk sounded from outside.

"Ooo, Nadie, the taxi!" Jeni exclaimed with wide eyes, squealing excitedly.

Nadine grinned, smoothing her son's hair out of his eyes. "You be a good boy now."

Kim sniffed, nodding. "I will mum."

Nadine placed a kiss on the child's hair.

"Have fun."

Nadine stopped in the doorway, laughing, tears welling up in her eyes. "You too, baby."

Jeni grabbed the older woman's arm and dragged her down the steps.

Wyatt turned to the little boy who was watching the taxi depart. "Looks like it's just you an' me, huh?"

Kim shut the door slowly. "Looks like it, yeah."

Wyatt grinned, his eyes wide with excitement. "You like pizza?" he asked, heading for the telephone.

Kim smiled. "Hawaiian," he chimed.


	6. Chapter 6

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Tests and Theories**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Wyatt and Kim spent the next two hours playing board games and doing mathematical crosswords.

Wyatt was 'hopeless', as Kim put it.

Kim was better. He seemed almost happy.

"So, how do you like school?" Wyatt posed, moving a piece on the board and wincing when his piece, once again, was taken by one of the boy's.

Kim shrugged, wide eyes on the game, calculating all sorts of variances. "So-so."

"You don't like it?" Wyatt inquired perceptively.

Kim bit the inside of his lip, absent-minded. "Hate it."

Wyatt moved another piece. This time Kim did not take his piece. Wyatt smiled slightly. "Why do you say that?" he pressed.

"Boring," Kim replied, shaking his head. He moved another piece before looking up into Wyatt's face expectantly, triumphant smile plastered all over his face.

Wyatt frowned, uncomprehending.

"I win," Kim chimed. "Again!"

Wyatt chuckled. "I'm just no good at this, am I?"

Kim replied truthfully. "No."

"Think I should get a new hobby?"

"Know so."

Wyatt grinned. "I didn't like school neither. It's no biggy."

xxx

"How come you married Jeni?" Kim asked, turning away from the computer game.

Wyatt blinked. "Wh-what do you mean?" he asked, letting out the breath he hadn't realised he had been holding.

Kim shrugged, eyes on the screen once more. "I just got the feeling you two… I dunno. I mean… Oh, I dunno what I'm on about."

Wyatt frowned, curious now. "No, go on."

"I just don't think she likes you very much," the little boy blurted bluntly.

Wyatt smiled grimly. "Damn!"

"It's just logic," Kim explained, "and a few mathematical algorithms. Nothing spec'."

Wyatt nodded. "I… logic? Thanks." He sighed. "Jeni and me… well, I don't know… Jeni was bored with small-town life. She wanted to get out. I guess she didn't think that far ahead. Wheels? Check! Plastic? Check! I'm outta here, baby! So long, so-ho!"

Kim snorted, rolling his eyes. "Girls!"

Wyatt grinned. "Girls!" he agreed.

xxx

"Seven-thirty," Kim announced.

"Bedtime, huh?"

Kim nodded.

Wyatt took a cursory glance around the room, widening his eyes in amazement, a small smile coming on to his lips.

"She always knows," Kim cut in.

Wyatt slouched, slightly put-out.

Kim scrunched up his nose, apologetic. "She'd kill me," he attempted to justify himself, "or stick me out in the dog house." The boy gave an involuntary shudder.

"I didn't know you had a dog?"

Kim nodded. "The key word there being 'had'. It ran off and got cleaned up on the highway. Mum cried…" He shrugged. "I'm off to brush my teeth."

Wyatt nodded slowly and stared at the blank television screen for several moments before he realised Kim had left and snapped out of his trance.

He supposed the child's response had shocked him a little, his brave face, a sad fact of life, but it was better this way. He wouldn't have known how to comfort the boy, besides. He didn't like to be scared, but grief was one of those things that scared him. It was always better to look at the facts, bring everything back down to their basic constituents, easier that way.

xxx

Cox sighed and capped the needle, gazing down at the little boy, a mop of messy curls and zoo-printed pyjamas.

That was that done then. The samples would be sent off to headquarters and analysed for the proper anomalies. All that remained was to wait.

xxx

Cox set about packing everything up, and when that was done, he went into the kitchen to make himself a coffee.

The water had just started boiling. He shut the cupboard door and placed the coffee jar on the stainless steel draining board and went to turn the electric kettle off.

He reached across the bench towards the power point. He didn't make the switch before he retracted his hand and grappled to keep hold of the bench unsuccessfully.

His hands went to his head as he collapsed to the floor.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"So how did you like it?" Wyatt asked pleasantly.

Jeni shook her head, watching the way he trailed his finger tips along the wall as he walked. "Fine, I guess." She knew he was trying to jibe her, but she wouldn't let him.

"That's nice," he replied without nodding, not exactly enthusiastic.

His steps were measured.

Jeni was bursting to ask how it went with Kim, but refrained, resigning to wait until they got back to the hotel room at least.

His hand shook as he fumbled with the key, attempting to slot it into the lock.

Jeni wondered if kids unnerved him that much. "So… um…"

"I'll live."

Jeni frowned. She was confused. "I meant to ask how it went."

Wyatt finally got the key to turn and pushed the door open, one hand on the frame. "I'll live," was his only response.

Jeni grinned. "No permanent scars then?" she joked.

Wyatt shut the door behind him. "I'll send the results off first thing. Right now, I'm tired. I'm going to bed." He clicked the lock shut and chucked the keys in the direction of the bedside cabinet. They missed and hit the wall instead. Wyatt barely seemed to notice. "Goodnight," he replied.

Jeni shook her head, scowling. If he was in a huff with her, she was going to have no part in it! She left to have a long long shower.


	7. Chapter 7

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Restless**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Jeni woke in the middle of the night, cold.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the penetrating dark, she realised Wyatt was no longer in bed. Her mind started to formulate all sorts of schemes and theories. She sat unsteadily. Her eyes caught on the sterile light from underneath the bathroom door.

She slouched, easing back on her elbows. She had been expecting something grander, something more sinister. Disappointed, she turned over and slammed her eyes shut.

Five minutes had passed to no avail. She still wasn't asleep and Wyatt still hadn't come back to bed.

Curiosity twisted in her stomach, rising up through her chest like a helium balloon.

Her eyes widened impossibly as she realised he may not be in the bathroom at all. She may simply have allowed him to play her. She scowled darkly to herself.

xxx

Jeni didn't know why she was tiptoeing as though she were a burglar. She shook her head and strolled to the door, no longer slinking.

With one smooth movement, she twisted the wooden knob and pulled the door ajar, leaning in to peek inside before she burst in exclaiming war and trumpeting like an elephant on ecstasy.

Wyatt was standing perfectly still, palms flat on the wall beside the mirror, bent over the basin as though about to be sick.

Jeni frowned but made no move to approach.

xxx

Red. All he could see was red. Dark as mahogany. Perfect circles of blood on glaringly white ceramic. Every now and again another drop was added to the collection. The perfect circles, polka dots of blood, began to smudge, sliding across the glossy white basin toward the golden plug hole.

xxx

"Um…" Jeni flinched, realising she had spoken.

Wyatt started and grabbed for the tap. Crystal water rushed greedily into the basin, ice cold. Red swirls entwined themselves with the crystal, staining it pink. The pink water slipped away down the drain, down into obscurity.

Clear water gushed into the basin, washing away the last of the blood.

"I was wondering if you had finished…?" Jeni continued. "Cos I kinda need to pee."

Wyatt splashed his face with icy water, checking the mirror hesitantly, squinting to make out if all the blood was gone. "I'm done."

He passed her without pause. Jeni shivered.

xxx

He was just lying there, staring up at the ceiling with glazed eyes.

Jeni eased carefully onto the bed, wincing as the blankets rustled softly and the springs tensed, not daring to look across at the older man.

xxx

Jeni couldn't take the silence. It was driving her mad. She didn't care if he screamed. She didn't even care if he hit her. She couldn't stand it anymore.

"You hungry?"

"We had takeaway," was the reply.

Jeni grinned. "Nadine wouldn't approve."

Wyatt sniffed. "Doesn't matter."

Jeni's smile vanished, replaced by a consternate frown. "You're sure then?"

"Sure as one can be at a time like this."

Jeni sighed. "You're right. It doesn't matter. We'll know soon enough, I guess."

"Forty-eight hours tops."

Jeni made no reply. _Forty-eight hours tops._ She knew what must happen after that. _Negative he lives. Positive he dies._

Her stomach churned. She bolted for the bathroom but didn't make it. Puke splashed all over the pretty walls and tiles.

Wyatt was at the door. "You okay?" He knew she wasn't, but he had to ask anyhow.

She slammed the door in his face, too sick to growl any retorts.

xxx

The door slowly eased open, creaking softly as it did.

"Go away!" Debbie screamed distraughtly.

"I'm a doctor, I can help," Cox replied cautiously from the other side of the door.

Debbie brushed at her wet cheeks in effort to hide her shameful tears, pushing her hands into her eyes. The tears wouldn't be stemmed. "No you can't!" she sobbed uselessly, sliding sideways down the wall and coming to rest on the cold hard tiles as the sobbing took her body once more.

xxx

"Stop it!" Cox screamed. "Just stop! Stop crying!"

But Debbie couldn't stop crying. She wanted her daddy and she wanted her bed, her own bed. She wanted to be back home. She wanted to be a little girl again.

"STOP IT! STOP BLOODY CRYING!"

Cox was shaking her, screaming at her to stop. She was scared. She wanted to do what he said. But she could only cry harder. "I can't…"

"STOP IT!"

She was angry now. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? Why couldn't he just go and die? "I can't!" she screamed back in a wrenching voice.

Then he was hitting her, and she wanted him to stop, but she couldn't tell him, and he wouldn't stop. "SHUT UP! WHY CAN'T YOU JUST SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

All she could do was curl up in a ball and wait to die, and then she wouldn't hurt anymore, none of it would matter at all, she would be free.

She wasn't crying anymore. She wasn't sniffling. She wasn't even trembling. Her eyes were glass, and so very very wide.

And then there was only silence. She knew that this was death. She would have smiled, but she was dead, and the dead did not smile.


	8. Chapter 8

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Timeout**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

When she awoke, she thought that she had woken to Heaven. She didn't even know if she believed in Heaven, not even now, but here she was, it seemed.

It was not to be.

There were no clouds, just the glaring white walls and ceiling. There were no angels, just the incessantly-humming neon bulb. There were no harps, but he was crying and he was holding her and they were rocking from side to side.

She hurt too much to be alive, but she knew that she was. There was no anger left in her, no fear.

"I didn't… I'm sorry. I never meant… I didn't want… sorry… sorry…"

She could feel his heart beneath hers, feel the ragged sobs, clutched tightly to his chest, her head beneath his chin. It hurt too much to breathe so she didn't try to speak. He would have told her not to.

Her eyes slowly closed once more and she let the feeling of comfort carry her away to another place. A place where there was no hurt and there was no pain.

xxx

She regained consciousness much later. She had no way of knowing what time it was, but the voice of her soul told her it was either very early or very late.

They were still sitting against the wall. He was simply staring. He was still breathing. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back. But that was all.

xxx

A tiny hand reached up. She struggled to turn, but he wasn't letting go. The pain was always there, but for now it didn't seem all that pressing.

She had turned to him now. She was staring straight into his eyes, but he wasn't seeing. Her hand was on his cheek. He felt cold and lifeless.

Her vision blurred with tears, clearing as hot tears rolled mutely down her cheeks, spilling all down her chin and mixing with the blood from her busted lip. She gasped sharply as the salt stung in the exposed flesh.

Reaching up on her knees, she placed a delicate kiss on his forehead. She would have smiled then, if it were not for the pain in her lip. She didn't know what possessed her, but it suddenly struck her as so funny that she wanted to laugh and to never stop.

Cox began to struggle, his eyes wide in terror.

Debbie seized his flailing wrists and pinned them to her chest. "It's only me!" she whispered, fresh tears welling up in her eyes at the pain of speaking, "only me!"

Cox shook his head. He couldn't hear her.

"I WON'T HURT YOU!" she screamed, "YOU MUST TRUST ME! TRUST ME!"

All struggling ceased.

xxx

She must have passed out again, because when she woke it was day. Soft light fell idly across her cheeks and warmed her eyelids.

It was a while before she opened her eyes.

She was lying in bed. There was no more pain. Yet the awareness was still there.

Her throat was dry and tasted of bile and blood. She turned restlessly and met his blue eyes.

He seemed to take deep breath. He sighed. "You're awake."

A real smile this time.

His eyes clouded for a time. He blinked the tears away.

She closed her eyes slowly. When she opened them again, he was sitting beside her, clutching one of her tiny hands.

She couldn't help but smile this time.

"Are you hungry?"

"Thirsty," she breathed in a raspy voice.

He immediately sprung to his feet. The weight on the mattress was eased slightly.

Debbie half closed her eyes as though to thank him.

He returned a moment later with a glass of water, which he placed on the bedside cabinet in order to assist her to sit.

She laughed achingly.

He passed her the glass, one of his hands clasped over hers in case she drop the glass and spill water all down herself.

She choked the first time she tried to swallow, but only because she was smiling so much, amused by his fussing.

Fear flickered dark in his eyes and he rubbed her back gently.

"I'm not dead yet," she finally managed to say.

Some of the fear was replaced with shyness.

Debbie chuckled. "Is it painkillers?"

Cox nodded, not meeting her eyes.

She reached out an unsteady hand and lifted his chin. His eyes darted about the room, anywhere but her. "Look at me."

He did, although she could see that his breath had quickened.

She trailed a finger down his cheek and retracted her hand. "I hate you!" A loud smack announced that she had slapped him. "Now kiss me, you idiot! I don't want to stay Sleeping Beauty all my life."

xxx

Debbie wasn't sure who started it, but one of them sure had. And now that it was started she never wanted it to stop.

It seemed so absurd to her that things should turn out this way, but here she was, and there he was, and they were struggling if they knew anything more than each other.

xxx

Debbie slowly lifted her head from his chest, smiling. Her eyes idly scanned the room until they came to rest on the clock. Her smile twitched. The ticking threatened to send her back to sleep.

Slowly but surely, her mind put two and two together.

"Shit!"

Cox moaned and opened his eyes.

Debbie was knelt on her haunches, pulling her tee-shirt over her head.

He reached out a hand for her arm and stoked it.

"We're late!" Debbie hollered. Seeing the uncomprehending look on his face, she elaborated. "Late for work!"

His eyes widened. "What?"

Debbie nodded to the clock, her eyes overlarge.

Cox shook his head in his hands.

"God! Did somebody puke on this!" Debbie exclaimed in disgust, picking at her shirt.

"Yeah, you did!"

Debbie growled and pulled her tee-shirt off, chucking it across the room out of sight.

Cox laughed softly. Debbie glared back at him, infuriated. "Lend you one of mine?"

Debbie huffed, but snatched the shirt from him when he offered it, scrabbling around to retrieve her denim dungarees from under the bed. She groaned. A moment later, her face popped up beside the bed. "You got 'ny more of those happy pills?" she asked gruffly.

Cox nodded. "I'll get you one n-"

"Get me two!" the young woman snapped.

Cox held her gaze, unmoving. "One and a half."

Debbie glared back at him for seven seconds, but that was all the time she could spare. They were late. "Fine!"

He smiled, holding up his index finger. "Be right back." He kissed her on the cheek on his way past.

Debbie growled and pushed him away roughly. "Don't push it, buster!"

He chuckled. "No."

Debbie narrowed her eyes and plonked herself on the bed to adjust the metal buckles on her dungarees.

xxx

Nadine frowned when she noticed various bruises and the split lip Jeni was sporting.

Jeni rolled her eyes and shot her husband a warning look. "Sorry I'm late. It was his fault. He remembered to forget to set the alarm. What can I do to make it up?" she blurted.

Nadine smiled grimly, still staring.

"He started it!" Jeni protested. "He wouldn't give me the remote! He wanted to watch tennis! I had no other choice! I don't do tennis!"

Nadine nodded slowly, smiling now, and turned to Wyatt for confirmation.

Wyatt bit his lip and shot his wife an innocent look. Jeni rolled her eyes. "Save it, buster! You'll not convert me with those angel eyes!" With that, she marched off.

Nadine strolled after her. "It's the weekend, Jeni. I'm not that fussed. Really. You might at least spare a moment to brush your hair. You don't want to be scaring the old dears away?"

Jeni froze. "Oh God! I must look like Medusa or something!"

Nadine chuckled. "I'm joking silly! It doesn't look that bad. You just need to lighten up. Come inside and have a tea. Kimmy's at soccer practise, so at least we won't have him running about under our feet. Wyatt? We can always lock him out and turn the sprinklers on."

Jeni's serious expression vanished as she burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Nadine, you're so mean!"

Nadine blushed. "Heath rang me," she blurted.

Jeni caught her breath, her eyes widening. "Noooo!"

Nadine smirked, her blush reddening. "Yes." She looked away from the younger woman and began rearranging some plant tubes. "This morning. Right after I dropped Kim off at soccer. I had to run to get the phone. He said he'd really like to meet me again."

Jeni grinned, shoving Nadine in the arm. "See. I told you. I bet Heath doesn't think you're ugly."

Nadine's blush was full-blown cherry now.

"How about that tea then?" Jeni teased, turning to the screen door and pulling it open.

Nadine looked down at her shoes and stepped inside. "I hope you don't mind chamomile. It's all I have left. I meant to pop by the shops this morning, but I guess I just forgot. It helps Kimmy sleep sometimes, you know."

Jeni nodded kindly. "No, chamomile's perfectly fine, thanks."


	9. Chapter 9

**Ice-cream**

by planet p

xxx

**Disclaimer**

I don't own 'the Pretender' or its characters.

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

**Ground Control**

………………………………………………………………………………………………...

"We have a go ahead!" Cox shouted from the bedroom.

Debbie popped her head around the bathroom door. "It's positive?"

Cox shut his laptop and sighed. "Yes. Kim has the Pretender gene."

Debbie nodded blankly. "Then it's tonight! No use sticking around here unnecessarily."

Cox stood and began rummaging through his medical things. "Agreed."

xxx

Debbie finished fixing her blush and turned to see Cox standing in the door, watching her. She rolled her eyes. "It's not that bad."

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. That's not the issue."

The young woman scowled. "Issue schmissue!" She gave his cheek a pat on her way out of the bathroom.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Jeni smiled, standing beside her husband, one of his arms wrapped around her waist. "We got some wine," she chimed, waving the bottle in her hand from side to side.

Nadine shook her head. "Come inside, won't you? It's cold out there."

The pair complied.

The dinner had been Jeni's idea. Jeni had also suggested Nadine invite Heath. Nadine had been uncertain at first but Jeni had eventually convinced her.

xxx

Nadine made pasta for dinner. The two women had a good old laugh about the co-incidence; Nadine making pasta, and Jeni getting wine.

Nadine poured some wine into a glass for Wyatt. Jeni shot her husband a sweet look and shook her head slightly. "He's driving," she explained to Nadine.

Nadine nodded. "Oh well."

Jeni grinned, shrugging and tossing her head to one side. "Oh well," she reiterated.

Both women laughed.

"Ah, I'm afraid I'm kinda stuck with soda too," Jeni replied sadly.

Nadine frowned. "Surely-"

"Oh no, it's nothing to do with Wyatt. I assure you, whining like a dog equals dog food for breakfast, lunch and dinner, not a sympathetic wife. I'm pregnant."

Nadine's eyes went wide. "Oh, honey, I didn't know. That's great!"

Jeni smiled warmly. "Mmmm. I just hope the little bundle of yet-to-be-seen joy isn't masochistic."

Nadine laughed, a little embarrassed.

Wyatt rolled his eyes. Jeni leant across and whispered in the older woman's ear. "Read that one in 'Cleo'. Neat, huh? Wyatt thinks that just cos I come from a small town, I don't do sophistication. Men!"

Nadine snickered. Kim shot his mum an 'oh, man!' look, muttering under his breath. "One and one and one is one too many."

xxx

Kim was tucked safely in bed and Nadine and Heath were talking in the lounge by the time the sedatives took effect.

Jeni elbowed her husband, peering around the lounge room door. "Oh clever you!"

Wyatt grinned. "Oh clever me!"

xxx

Kim was sedated with a needle and carried out the front door, his head on Jeni's shoulder. Jeni made sure to bring his plastic dinosaurs on the way out.

With the nursery being as it was, at the end of a lane with woods out back, there was no chance of any prying neighbours accidentally witnessing the kidnapping.

Jeni sighed, placing the sleeping boy on the back seat and covering him with a blanket from his room.

It was going to be a long night. The kidnapping had gone cleanly so far. Now there was the whole business with burning the nursery down when the distraught couple went to the police to report the missing child. An electrical fault in the chemical store was to be blamed.

Wyatt had suggested to Nadine, under hypnosis, that her son might have run away from home because he was jealous of her new boyfriend. Therefore she would go to the police with this suspicion, rather than assume kidnapping.

The Rooneys would soon after die in a car crash with a truck. The truck driver would be unharmed, but the car will have been cleaned up.

xxx

Debbie sat in the back with the boy, his head rested in her lap, watching as the fire engulfing the nursery slowly disappeared.

Well, they had their Pretended, now perhaps they would allow her to get on with her job, as lab-techie.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

Debbie sighed, pulling her labcoat off and replacing it in one of the lockers. Just another day at the Centre.

She wondered if she would be allowed to visit Kim. She snickered. She had a better chance of marrying the Chairman before that happened.

Yes, just another day in everyone's favourite Hell.

xxx

She looked up at the sound of footsteps.

Cox appeared in the doorway. "Miss Broots, hard at work I see?"

Debbie rolled her eyes, turning the tap off and drying her hands on some paper towelling. "Going to lunch actually," she replied.

Cox smiled. "Ice-cream? My treat. To a job well done."

Debbie laughed airily. "It's fruit salad today, Frankie I-Know-All-The-Dining-Hall-Allocations-By-Heart!"

He frowned, leaning his head against the doorframe, mock puzzled. "Since when?"

"Uh-dah! Since forever! Tuesday is fruit salad day."

"Ooooh! O-kay! Well how about we try the diner down the road? I hear they have just invested in things called 'freezers'."

Debbie strolled to the door and smacked him across the back of the head. Leaning in close, she mouthed, "no."

She swept passed him and stepped out into the hall, grinning to herself.

Cox ran to catch her up, stepping in front of her.

She dodged left only to find he had stepped into her path. She tried again, to no avail. "I'm on a diet," she explained flippantly.

"Awww! You can puke it up later!"

Debbie opened her mouth and biffed him across the head again. "Fruit salad," she reminded him and strutted off.

He shook his head as though he just couldn't understand her. "Hey!" He ran to catch her before she got on the elevator. "I can do fruit salad too."

Debbie snorted incredulously. "Sure you can, Frankie!" The elevator doors closed with a tiny ping.

"Sure you can, Frankie!" he repeated to no one in particular, shaking his head, smiling slightly.

xxx

Debbie knocked on the door to her father's office.

Tucker started and looked up at his daughter, flustered. He relaxed upon seeing that it was not his boss, and sighed.

"Coming for ice-cream, daddy. Tuesday's ice-cream day, remember?"

The End.


End file.
